Nearly three-quarters of all transgender prison inmates in Britain were convicted of sexual offences or other violent crimes, which campaigners say demonstrates the dangers of housing biological males in female prisons.
According to Ministry of Justice figures, 74 per cent of British transgender prisoners, or 181 out of 244, were convicted of sex offences including rape and child sexual assaults. The data, reported by The Telegraph, goes on to say that currently 144 biologically male transgender prisoners are being housed in male prisons in Britain compared to five being housed in female jails.
The figures were revealed after a whistleblower complained of a violent male claiming to be transgender was put in a female prison. “She was not huge but very athletic and very strong and had all the physical features of a man. She was a bully and was very threatening and intimidating,” the insider said.
“The belief that she should have been housed in a male prison was unanimous, not just among the prisoners but also the staff,” she added.
Commenting on the need for prisoners to be separated by sex, former prison governor Rhona Hotchkiss said: “It is always an issue to have males who identify as women in women’s prisons. It’s not necessarily always the physical threat that they experience but the re-traumatisation because many women in prison are already traumatised at the hands of men. They are also faced with constant gaslighting when they are forced to call these men ‘she’.
“The vast majority of men who identify as transgender in prison did not do so before they came into contact with the justice system.”
The executive director for Sex Matters, Maya Forstater added: “The presence of men in women’s prisons immediately makes every female inmate feel unsafe. Even if men do not commit actual violence, they may threaten, bully and sexually harass women.
“Their very presence is intimidating. This testimony is important and HM Prisons must take heed. It has already implemented policies that keep many trans-identifying men out of women’s prisons, but it needs to finish the job and ensure all prisons are truly single-sex.”
The issue of male sex offenders being housed in female prisons has been a longstanding controversy in Britain. In one notable case, convicted rapist Karen White, born Stephen Wood, sexually assaulted several female prisoners shortly after being transferred to a women’s prison in 2018.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman told the Daily Mail: “Well over 90 per cent of transgender women in custody are held in the men’s estate.
“We changed the rules last year so transgender women who’ve been convicted of sexual or violent offences – or who retain male genitalia – cannot be held in a women’s prison unless in truly exceptional circumstances.”